Unstoppable review

Rascal Flatts’ new record is going to receive a warm welcome

If you are interested to know how the process of finding one’s own trademark sound goes on during the whole career you should definitely get acquainted with the creative work of the country pop band Rascal Flatts. This marvelous group headed by the talented vocalist Gary LeVox has been making the music that attracted new listeners with each new album from the very beginning. If the eponymous debut album was mainly appreciated by the younger part of the audience more and more of adult listeners found interesting all the following works. Today Rascal Flatts performs an excellent mixture of pop music, country, rock and R&B. Because these eternal searchers will hardly ever be content with any concrete style their albums always both are a commercial success and get the critical acclaim. Therefore one can have no doubt that its new record Unstoppable is going to receive the same warm welcome as the two past successful full length works, 2006’s Me And My Gang and 2007’s Still Feels Good.

A stylish, bright and very positive album Unstoppable

As it could be well expected Rascal Flatts has once again recorded a stylish, bright and very positive album. The record Unstoppable consists of 11 tracks each of which has its own interesting idea and a definite message. At the same time there are both calm ballads and songs obviously meant to be performed at a live show, preferably at a stadium. The first on the list is the track Love Who You Love, optimistic, loud and letting us know at once: a serious pop music is still the basic direction in the work of Rascal Flatts. The first single Here Comes Goodbye is a very beautiful and soulful piano creation, a ballad devoted to all who has recently broke up with someone loved, offering the most powerful and hence memorable chorus on the album. A more up-tempo composition Close is refined with some rock elements which are the interesting guitar hooks making the song remind of the works of the band Live a bit, while the song Forever surprises with the most complicated tune on the album and the vocals a bit resonant with the accompaniment, nevertheless, taken together it all sounds very beautiful and harmonious. The title track Unstoppable is another ballad perfect to be performed at a stadium as the chorus is simply shouting to be sung along here. The song is naturally devoted to the eternal love as well as Things That Matter, a slow, sensual song making one think of the important things and refined with the best guitars on the album. The positive emotions are simply pouring out on Summer Nights, probably the most danceable number on the album and the record closer is another piano ballad Why, filled with nostalgia and easily able to make the most sensitive listeners cry.

Powerful and yet soulful music

Whether it is a lot or not Unstoppable is the sixth album of Rascal Flatts and it can be clearly felt on it that these guys feel quite confident both in their studio and on the stage. In this respect it should be noted that all of their previous works were much more modest in this respect therefore some might not like this frank we-are-celebrities position. On the other hand Rascal Flatts can by no means be accused of behaving like that without a reason – in the majority of cases the band’s works have been successful, the hits have never left radio airs and the concerts are always overcrowded. Perhaps this is why this time the guys have allowed themselves to give up practically all the country elements – if there was at least one country composition on the previous album there is none of them on Unstoppable. A good quality pop combined with rock and R&B prevail here, and the serious themes of love, a happy and not a very happy one, please throughout the whole record. In general the title Unstoppable is rather suitable to its content: this powerful and yet soulful music will be remembered for a long time and produce the strongest impressions.